In-situ normal stiffness of rock mass

Proceedings of Fourth Indian Rock Conference, Indorock (29-31 May, 2013), Waknaghat, Solan, HP, India

Rajbal Singh, & Shashank Pathak

2013-05-31

Design of structures in rock mass requires information on deformation and strength characteristics of rock mass. Numerical modeling techniques play an important role in analysis of the physical behavior of such structures. Such analyses involve various input parameters like material properties, boundary conditions and applied loading. These input parameters need to be the best possible representation of the actual behavior of the structure in field. For rock mass, important parameters are elastic properties of intact rock, rock joints, their orientation, spacing and stiffness values. Reliable determination of normal and shear stiffness values for a rock joint has always been a challenge. The present study utilizes the in-situ data collected from plate load tests to establish a correlation between modulus of deformation and normal stiffness.